Dispenser



Aug. 11, 1964 J. A. YERKES 3,144,184

DISPENSER Filed June 8, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet l "mill Fig.4

- INVENTOR (fa/w A. *Zwmzs BY mam a 'L ATTOR MEYS J. A. YERKES Aug. 11, 1964 DISPENSER 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 8, 1962 INVENTOR J0 A. iiw/vas g- 11, 1964 J. A. YERKES 3,144,184

DISPENSER Filed June 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet s INVENT R Jamv 4 59/?65 7PM y ZZZ ATTOR NEY J. A. YERKES DISPENSER Aug. 11, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 8, 1962 INVENTOR JOHN 4. f/iAJ BY FOW ,Qt zzb ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,144,1s4 DlSPENSER John A. Yerkes, New York, N.Y.; Gulda Morrison Yerkes, exccutrix of said John A. Yerkes, deceased, assignor to Gulda Morrison Yerkes Filed June 8, 1962, Ser. No. 201,135 4 Claims. (Cl. 225-26) This invention relates to a dispenser of pressure sensitive tape in which an end of the tape is grasped and pulled for unreeling the desired length of tape and which has means for severing the tape.

In the conventional type dispenser, a substantial length of tape is left unreeled and exposed between the periphery of the tape roll and a small adhesion pad near the knife edge, resulting in certain serious disadvantages. The adhesion pad is usually inadequate so that the tape tail may accidentally dislodge with the result that it becomes adhered to other less accessible parts of the dispenser or to the tape roll itself. One disadvantage of a long, exposed tape tail is that the adhesive tacky surface of the tape is subject to attack by various elements such as dry air and excessive humidity. In hot weather, if left near a source of heat, or if exposed to sunlight, the long exposed tail frequently must be discarded. These disadvantages are especially prevalent where the intervals between uses are long, as in small offices or homes, as well as the usual overnight and weekend intervals with larger users. Another disadvantage is that dust and other foreign particles, as well as grease from contact with greasy objects, affect the exposed tape when the dispenser is carried in the pocket or briefcase or is stored in a drawer or toolbox with other articles and tools. Under the latter conditions, the usual tail of tape is especially liable to be dislodged from the small adhesion pad usually provided.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a dispenser wherein there will be a relatively small length of tape unreeled between the roll periphery and the inner end of an adhesion surface, thereby avoiding exposure of the tacky surface.

Another object is to provide a large and adequate adhesion surface to protect the tape tail against exposure and to assure firm adhesion and retention of the tape tail so that it will not be accidentally detached and will remain readily accessible for grasping before subsequent unreeliug operations.

Another object is to provide such firm adhesion that even with very strong tapes, severing is facilitated without employing snubbing devices and other complex and costly mechanisms.

Another object is to provide a finger indent associated with the adhesion surface, to facilitate grasping of the tape tail.

Still another object is to prepare the adhesion surface so that there is a safe degree of adhesion of various types of tapes, while preventing excessive adhesion requiring unusually great effort to dislodge which is conducive to tearing of the tape.

Another object of the invention is to provide means whereby the tape roll shifts by translation as the tape is pulled and unreeled so that the periphery of the tape roll is kept in contact with a bearing surface at the inner end of the adhesion surface whereby the point of departure of the tape from the roll will be maintained at the inner end of the adhesion surface.

Another object of the invention is to provide means to prevent sagging of the tape roll away from said adhesion surface so that exposure of an unwanted tail of tape is avoided.

It is a further object to provide such anti-sagging means which will be effective in each of a multiplicity of positions in which the dispenser may be located.

3,144,184 Patented Aug. 11, E964 ice Another object of the invention is to provide for effective operation with tape rolls having unusually large core-hole diameters and a device which may be readily adapted for various uses such as desk, combination pocket and desk, or as a package type.

In one aspect of the invention, the container for holding a roll of the pressure sensitive tape has an opening through which the tail of the tape can be pulled and cut off on a knife edge. A bearing surface is adjacent one edge of the opening, the roll being movable by translation and rotation in the container so that the roll periphery contacts said bearing surface. An adhesion surface preferably is located in a plane tangential to the periphery of the roll of tape, the surface extending toward said knife edge. In one form, a finger indent is on the adhesion surface. Also, the adhesion surface may have a plurality of unconnected indentations. T 16 means or stop in the container on which the roll is carried or held is arranged so that the stop means projects into the double-convex zone defined by the core hold of the roll of tape as the roll moves from a full condition to a depleted condition in the container against the bearing surface or surfaces as tape is pulled from the roll. Thus, the roll rotates and also moves by translation. The stop means may take various forms and may be continuous or may just have portions extending into the corners of said double-convex zone. The operation and relation of the parts will be described in detail hereafter. By use of the present arrangement, a egligible amount of tacky tape will be exposed to the air.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and drawings which are merely exemplary.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a reduced size front elevation of one form of the invention, showing the hinged lid in open position.

FIG. 2 is a front elevation with the lid omitted, showing a full roll of pressure sensitive tape installed therein.

FIG. 3 is atop view of PEG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a rear elevation of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a front elevation similar to FIG. 2 and useful in explaining certain geometric relationships, with the stop member omitted for clarity.

FIGS. 6 to 9, inclusive, are reduced size side elevations with the device resting on each of the four side walls of the container, with a full roll of pressure sensitive tape therein.

FIGS. 10 to 13, inclusive, are similar views showing the tape spool in position after practically all the tape has been unreeled.

FIGS. 14 to 17, inclusive, illustrate alternative forms of a stop member.

FIG. 18 illustrates a distorted roll of tape, resulting from improper storage under adverse conditions.

FIGS. 19 to 21, inclusive, are schematic front elevations illustrating the effect on the operation when certain structural elements are arranged in various ways.

FIG. 22 is similar to FIG. 2 except that here the device is modified to accommodate rolls in which the core hole is relatively large in diameter, as in certain tapes being sold in the market.

Referring to FIG. 1, a preferred form of the device comprises a container 25 which may be molded of plastic material, to which is hinged a preferably transparent plastic cover member 26, these being connected to each other by suitable hinge means 27. The device may have the cover latched to the container in any suitable manner (not shown) as is well known in the art. The members also could be secured together by slide-fit or other well known means, rather than hinging as shown.

FIG. 2 is a front elevation showing a full roll of pressure sensitive tape 28 installed in container 25. The tape is wound on a spool or core 29 having an outer periphery 30 and a core hole or aperture 31. The periphery of full tape roll 28 is indicated at 32. Container 25 is provided with a large rear wall 33, a right wall 34, a bottom wall 35, a left wall 36, a top wall 37, a sloping adhesion surface 38, and a support member 39. Inner wall 40 is spaced from right edge 34 so as to define an L--shaped groove 41 for knife blade 42 having teeth 43, said blade being removably held therein. Knife blade 42 may be molded of plastic material and may be integral with container 25. Adhesion surface 38 is preferably a fiat plane, but it could be arched or similarly modified.

Formed at the inner extremity of adhesion surface 38 is a rounded bearing surface 44, and formed on the undersurface of upper wall 37 is a sloping flat bearing surface 45. Molded integral with rear wall 33 and extending preferably across the full depth of container 25 is a double-convex stop member 46 whose cylindrical surfaces intersect at an upper line 47 and a lower line 48. Member 46 may be hollow as shown at 49.

Adhesion surface 38 and rear wall 33 are indented (FIGS. 3, 4) with a frusto-spherical finger indent t) suitable for convenient reception of a fingertip for engaging the tape, as will be explained hereafter. A pair of finger indentations, one on each side, could be used (not shown) or such indentations could be connected, dividing the adhesion surface into two members.

Briefly describing certain aspects of the operation, after installing the full roll of tape (FIG. 2), the free end is grasped for unreeling. The tape tail is pulled in a generally radial direction as indicated by the arrow 51. The resistance to unreeling, inherent in pressure sensitive tape, causes bodily lifting of the tape roll and brings its periphery 32 into contact with sloping upper bearing surface 45 at a point of tangency 52, as well as into contact with rounded bearing surface 44 at the inner extremity of adhesion surface 38. Core hole 31 of tape roll 28 is now lifted free of contact with stop member 46, there being provided a slight clearance with the full roll of tape which increases as the tape is expended. Thus, as the tape of the full roll is pulled for unreeling, the periphery 32 is brought into contact with the two bearing surfaces 44 and 45, on the non-tacky side of the tape, and these contacts are normally maintained even during the period when the tape is not being unreeled.

Having unreeled the required length of tape tail, the tail is now swung in the general direction of arrow 53, toward knife blade 42 and its teeth 43, for severing the tape. The tops of teeth 43 are located substantially below the level of adhesion surface 38, which surface has va location as seen in FIG. 2, so that when the tape is swung downwardly and before the tape reaches teeth 43, the tacky undersurface of the tape will become firmly and evenly adhered to the adhesion surface. Continued swinging sharply downwardly in the direction of arrow 54 brings the tape into engagement with teeth 43 and severing occurs. The adhesion surface 38 is relatively large.

It is desirable that the tape roll periphery be kept in contact with rounded bearing surface 44, whether the roll is full size as shown in solid lines, FIG. 2, or whether it is substantially depleted of tape as shown in broken lines. Periphery 56 of the nearly depleted spool 58 is shown in contact with rounded bearing surface 44, core hole 57 having moved to a position where it just clears stop member 46. Contact with sloping bearing surface 45 at point of tangency 59 is also shown.

The purpose of maintaining contact between the periphery of the taper oil and bearing surface 44 is to assure that no more than a negligibly tiny tail of tape will be exposed between the tape roll and adhesion surface 38. Such is made possible by providing the tape with freedom to move by translation, as well as by rotation. If the tape were mounted on a central bearing so that there would be freedom of rotation only, a tail of tape 4 would be exposed between the tape roll periphery and the adhesion surface, and the length of the tail would become increasingly longer as the roll became increasingly depleted of tape.

In order to achieve the translational motion required to avoid useless exposure of tape, it is desirable to provide means to avoiid sagging of the tape roll with consequent unwanted exposure of a tail of tape. Although the tape roll weighs but a few ounces, this weight is usually quite adequate, at ordinary room temperatures, to cause unreeling of the tape as it sags downwardly out of contact with bearing surface 44. The mere provision of a core-supporting pin would not be adequate, especially where the core-hole diameter is relatively small compared with the outside diameter of the full roll of the character shown in FIG. 2. As an example, a commonly used roll has a core-hole diameter of one inch and an outside tape roll diameter of two and one-half inches.

Additionally, the anti-sagging means must be effective when the device is resting in any of several positions other than the normal upright dispensing position. Many dispensers are of the combination type which may be hand held and which may also be portable. Such devices may rest on any of their walls and thus sagging should be prevented in any position. In the present invention, the means to prevent sagging does not require springs and other friction-causing elements, rollers, pins and costly mechanical elements requiring assembly operations.

The geometric relationships shown in FIG. 5 illustrate the means for preventing sagging. Such is similar to FIG. 2, except that member 46 is omitted, and certain centerlines or planes are shown. As the tape is unreeled, the centerline 60 of full roll 28 moves by translation until the roll is nearly depleted of tape, whereupon this centerline will have shifted to the position indicated at 61, moving in a plane indicated by broken line 62. Core hole 31 similarly moves so that it shifts to the position of core hole 57. The full-tape and the depleted-tape cylindrical core holes 31 and 57 intersect at a lower intersection line 63 and an upper intersection line 64, both lying in a plane 65 which is perpendicular to plane 62. Inspection of the figure will show that there is a doubleconvex or pointed end elliptical free space 66 which is not traversed by the cylindrical core of the tape as it shifts from full-roll to depleted-roll positions, as above described.

Comparison of FIG. 5 with FIG. 2 will show that double-convex stop member 46 is fitted into free space 66. For practical reasons, stop member 46 is slightly smaller than free space 66 to assure that the core will not rub against member 46 during the operation of unreeling, thus avoiding unnecessary friction.

It will now be shown how member 46, in cooperation with other structural elements of the device, prevents sagging of the tape roll and avoids unwanted exposure of a tape tail between the periphery of the tape roll and the adhesion surface, not only when the device rests in normal upright dispensing position but also when it rests on any of its walls. It is, of course, understood that sagging in the sense being considered does not occur when the device is reposing on either its front cover 26 or its large rear wall 33.

FIGS. 6 to 13, inclusive, are representations of actual observed results with both full and nearly depleted tape rolls, with the device resting on each of its four side walls.

FIGS. 6 and 10 show the normal upright dispensing position with the device resting on its bottom wall 35, with full and nearly depleted rolls of tape, respectively. With the full roll as in FIG. 6, the tape will adhere tightly to adhesion surface 38. Upper corner 47 of stop member 46 is effective in providing the required support, and there is no tendency of the tape to sag away from bearing surface 44. In FIG. 10, the roll shows a slight tendency to sag out of contact with sloping bearing surface 45, but this tendency is promptly arrested as upper corner 47 of stop member 46 engages the wall of core hole 57 of the nearly depleted spool 58. In spite of this slight sag away from the sloping bearing surface 45, there is no sag whatsoever at the place of contact that actually matters, which is at bearing surface 44, so that no tape tail is exposed. If there were no provision made for arresting sag, the nearly depleted tape roll 58 (FIG. would be subject to considerable sagging, exposing more tape tail than with ordinary devices having fixed central bearings.

When the device rests on side wall 36 (FIGS. 7, 11), corner 48 of stop member 46, in contrast with FIGS. 6 and 10, is effective in arresting the sag. When the device rests on the opposite side wall 34, FIGS. 8, 12, corner 47 of stop member 46 is now effective in arresting sag. Finally, when the device rests on top wall 37, FlGS. 9, 13, corner 43 is now effective to arrest sag.

In each of the figures, an arrow indicates the direction in which sagging tends to occur as shown by insignificant movement in tests, and sag is arrested before more than negligibly tiny tape tails appear.

While upper cylindrical surface 68 and lower cylindrical surface 69 of stop member 46 assist in the stopping function, so that the double-convex shape of member 46 is the preferred form, it is significant that the most essential points are the upper and lower intersections or corners 4'7 and 48, where the two cylindrical surfaces 68 and 69 meet.

An ordinary cylindrical pin, or the like, located in free space 66 would not function to prevent sagging and objectionable exposure of unwanted tape tails. Further, any stop member which is to successfully arrest sagging must, first, be located within the free space 66 (FIG. 5) and, second, there must be abutment surfaces at, or very near to, intersections 63 and 64 of free space 66 as above defined.

FIGS. 14, 15 and 17 show alternative stop members which meet the requirements indicated above. FIG. 16 shows the preferred form of stop member 46, for purposes of comparison with the other of these figures. In each of these figures, free space 66 is indicated in dashdot outline, showing its upper and lower intersection lines 64 and 63 and with plane 65 also shown.

FIG. 14 shows a bar 70 with its ends located, as required, near intersection lines 63 and 64 of free space 66. FIG. 15 shows a divided pair of stop members 71 and 72, each located near intersection lines 63 and 64 and aligned along plane 65, as required. FIG. 17 is a diamond-shaped member 73 with its upper and lower corners similarly properly located.

Plane 65 should be oriented substantially as shown in FIG. 5, i.e., roughly diagonal relative to walls 34, 35, 36 and 37. If, for example, plane 65 were horizontal, that is, parallel to wall 35 on which the device normally rests when dispensing, stop member 46 also would lie horizontal with its intersection lines 47 and 48 again disposed on plane 65. Bearing surfaces 44 and 45 and all other related members would be rotated counterclockwise consistently. This may easily be visualized by rotating FIG. 10 until corner 76, at the juncture of walls 35 and 36, is lowermost. In such a position of rest, there would be nothing to arrest sagging except for a full roll of tape. It is obvious that in the diagonal position, with plane 65 tilted as far as practical away from a parallelism with any of the side walls of the container, there is maximum assurance against sagging of the tape roll.

In addition to providing the above described means to avoid useless unreeling and exposure of the spooled tape, which must necessarily be unreeled to enable manual grasping for additional unreeling, it will be seen from FIGS. 2 and 3 that the adhesion surface 33 is unusually large. This is as distinguished from the narrow bar spaced closely behind the knife edge of the prior art, such usually being about one-eighth to one-quarter inch which is much smaller than that herein provided.

One of the reasons for the large adhesion surface is to enable using a finger indent 5%) of ample proportions to prevent accidental detachment, as is common in the art and frequently requiring tediously scraping the tail loose from the tape roll or inaccessible surfaces of the dispenser. Further, another reason that there should be adhesion over a large area of the tape is so that when the tape is being severed by the knife, the tape will be prevented from slipping laterally or in the direction of pull on the tape. Slippage of this sort has been especially troublesome with ordinary, small adhesion pads, particularly since the recent trend toward relatively strong tapes not easily severed.

Another important reason for the large size of adhesion surface 33 is that except for the relatively small, unobjectionable area over finger indent 50, full protection against exposure of the tacky undersurface of the tape is afforded for the full length of the tape, from the tape periphery at bearing surface 44 to knife blade 42.

Merely providing a large adhesion surface did not automatically meet the problem of proper adhesion. Under certain circumstances, adhesion was found excessive. Also, various types of thin transparent tapes adhere with varying tenacities and thin transparent tapes adhere diiferently than paper masking tapes or paper drafting tape.

In view of the above, it was found desirable to arrange adhesion surface 38 in a manner so as to adjust the degree of adhesion to meet the intended use. While it has long been known in the art that by knurling, serrating, grooving, and the like, of the surface of rollers and pads, adhesion of pressure sensitive tapes could be limited, it was found that such surface preparation of adhesion surface 38 was unsatisfactory because air could freely circulate under the peaks of the knurls or serrations.

In one form of the invention, the adhesive power of the tape on adhesion surface 38 is adjusted by the means shown in FIG. 3, the surface being covered with a multiplicity of shallow, preferably spherical, indentations 77. By varying the diameter of these indentations and by varying the spacing between them, it was found that the degree of adhesion could readily be determined and adjusted for the intended use, while air circulation and airborne particles would be successfully excluded. Indentations 77 need not necessarily be spherical in form but may be rectangular or any other suitable shape, provided there is no communication between indentations.

As is known in the art, there is substantial resistance to rotation of the tape roll around its axis as it is unreeled, even under ideal conditions with new and wellmade tape, due to friction against parts of the dispenser and to the resistance of the tacky adhesive to unwinding, it being possible that such may reach several pounds. One of the causes of resistance to rotation is severe distortion of the tape such as seen in FIG. 18. Such may result from storage in certain types of containers, with the container lying on its front or back in hot weather or near a source of heat. In a dispenser, the tape often so widens until it crowds the walls so that when the tape tail is pulled, the resistance to axial rotation is very heavy.

Referring to FIG. 19, which schematically represents an early form in the development of the present device with an unsatisfactory adhesion pad, attempts were made to use an adhesion surface '78 whose plane extended approximately radially of the tape roll 79, simulating the usual practice in the art for such dispensers. When the tape tail was pulled for unreeling tape, in the general direction of arrow 82, the periphery of the roll rubbed against bearing surfaces 86 and 81. After unreeling the required length of tape, the tail was swung arcuately downwardly, in the general direction of arrow 84. This downward swing tended to pivot around the point of departure 83 where tape tail 85' and tape roll W met.

If the tape roll strongly resisted being rotated, for the reasons given above, the tape tail would swing to the position shown at 85A, in an approximately tangential direction indicated by arrow 86. Further downward swinging in the direction of arrow 84 resulted in severing of the tape, but the tacky undersurface 87 of tape tail 85A failed entirely to adhere to adhesion surface 78, except for a thin, inadequate line contact at tip 94.

Even when the tape roll was relatively free to rotate on its axis under the most favorable conditions noted above, and point of departure 83 was relatively free to roll down toward bearing surface 80, it was found that when the tape was swung arcuately in the direction of arrow 84, the force tending to rotate the roll was but a very small component of the swinging force and there Was little tendency for point of departure 83 to quite reach bearing point 80. In fact, before that point is reached, the force actually tends to stop rotation and such will be made clear by reference to schematic FIG. 20 which shows a type of construction to be found in the prior art. it differs from the form shown in FIG. 19 only in the respect that the large opening between bearing surfaces St? and 81 of that figure is narrowed down to a relatively small slit 87. Such a construction is deemed disadvantageous because of the difficulty of threading the tape through narrow slit 87, unlike the preferred form hereof, in which there is ample room for insertion of the tips of thumb and forefinger, so that manipulation is facilitated without requirement for removal of the cover except occasionally.

Inspetcion of FIG. 20 shows that after unreeling the desired amount of tape in the general direction of arrow 88, in spite of the fact that point of departure 89 is now quite close to bearing surface 30, the same difficulties above described for FIG. 19 Will be encountered, defeating firm and even adhesion of the tape to adhesion surface 78. Thus, tape tail 90 is swung arcuately downwardly in the direction of arrow 93 until tape tail 92 engages the forward tip 94 of adhesion surface 78, the tail extending in the direction of arrow 91. All pull, however, is in the direction of arrow 93, and an exceedingly small component of this pulling force is exerted to move point of departure 89 down toward bearing surface 80, so that firm and even adhesion may be obtained, but any adhesion that occurs at tip 94 tends to defeat even this small force, with the result that the desired even adhesion is not obtained.

FIG. 21 schematically shows the preferred construction, proportioning and arrangement of the parts so that firm and even adhesion of the tape to the adhesion surface is assured and under all conditions of frictional resistance to revolving of the tape roll on its axis.

The difference between the preferred form seen in FIG. 21 and that of FIG. 19 is that adhesion surface 38 is arranged with its plane substantially tangential to the periphery 32 of tape roll 28 in FIG. 21. Absolute tangency is neither necessary nor desirable, a slight compromise being preferably made to accommodate both the full roll of tape as well as the nearly depleted roll.

Regardless of the exact form of the adhesion surface, whether modified as suggested above or the preferred form shown, the fiat plane passing through bearing surface 44 and through the forward or knife edge of adhesion surface 38 should be disposed substantially tangential to the tape roll periphery, such as shown, for example, in FIG. 2. The tape is unreeled as before, in a generally radial direction indicated by arrow 51 (FIG. 2). When it is swung downwardly in the direction of arrow 53 and just before it reaches the teeth 43 of knife blade 42, the tacky underside of the tape will adhere firmly and evenly to adhesion surface 38 before the tape swings in the direction of arrow 5 and severing occurs. Teeth 43 are located at a level below adhesion surface 38, as is customary in the art.

It should be clear from FIG. 21 that by this arrangement and proportioning of the parts, firm and even adhesion is assured. The firmer the resistance and the consequent required pull, the more firmly will the tape adhere to the adhesion surface. With this arrangement, when friction is greatest and point of departure 55 does not move into contact with bearing surface 44, the downward swing of the tape tail causes re-adhesion of the short tail between point 55 and bearing surface 44 to the tape roll itself, although occasionally a tiny, negligible tail may be exposed. Of course, when friction is not heavy, point of departure 55 readily moves into contact with bearing surface 44.

Thus, by the arrangement and proportioning shown, there is positive assurance of uniform and even adhesion to the large adhesion surface, far more than there is in the common devices of the art and their relatively small adhesion pads. It should be noted that this is achieved without sacrificing the advantages of a large opening between bearing surfaces 44 and 45, as above explained.

A modification of the invention is shown in FIG. 22 wherein double-convex stop member 99, of FIG. 22 is substantially larger than member 46 of FIG. 2. The purpose is to enable efficient dispensing of rolls of tape having unusually large core-hole diameters. Thus, in FIG. 22, tape roll has an outside diameter which is not larger than that of tape roll 28 of FIG. 2, but its core 96 is substantially larger, as is true of outside diameter 97 and inside diameter 98 of the core. The periphery of the nearly depleted spool is indicated at liiii and its core hole at 101.

While the device of FIG. 2 is capable of dispensing a tape roll 95 with a large core hole 98, with good efficiency in certain normal positions, in certain other positions, a slight sagging may occur. This may be deemed unobjectionable since the resulting exposure of tape is far less than is considered normal with ordinary dispensers. The larger double-convex stop member 99 performs its function of preventing sagging when the device rests on any of its walls, with the same effectiveness as above described for the device of FIG. 2. The alternative forms shown in FIGS. 14, 15 and 17 may also be applied here.

It is to be understood that details of the invention may be varied and that it can be used in various manners and for different purposes, such as to produce a heavy desk type dispenser and a disposable package type dispenser, without departing from the spirit of the invention except as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a tape dispenser for pressure sensitive tape, the combination including a container adapted to house a roll of pressure sensitive tape, said container having an opening through which a tape tail may extend to the exterior of said container, a bearing surface adjacent one edge of said opening, an adhesion surface on the exterior of said container in close proximity to said bearing surface, the plane of said adhesion surface being substantially tangential to the periphery of said roll, knife edge means at the outer edge of said adhesion surface, and means in said container for holding said roll so that when said tape tail is manually pulled through said opening, said roll will rotate around its axis and also will move by translation until its periphery bears against said bearing surface, whereby when said tape tail is swung toward said knife edge means for severing, substantially all of said tape from said roll to said knife edge will adhere to said adhesion surface before severing of the tape.

2. In a tape dispenser for pressure sensitive tape, the combination including a container adapted to house a roll of pressure sensitive tape, said container having an opening through which a tape tail may extend to the exterior of said container, a bearing surface adjacent one edge of said opening, an adhesion surface on the exterior of said container in close proximity to said bearing surface, the plane of said adhesion surface being substantially tangential to the periphery of said roll, knife edge means at the outer edge of said adhesion surface, open access area means enabling grasping the tape for unreeling, said area being between said bearing surface and said knife edge, and means in said container for holding said roll so that when said tape tail is manually pulled through said opening, said roll will rotate around its axis and also will move by translation until its periphery bears against said bearing surface, whereby when said tape tail is swung toward said knife edge means for severing, substantially all of said tape from said roll to said knife edge except over said open access area will adhere to said adhesion surface before severing of the tape.

3. In a tape dispenser for pressure sensitive tape, the combination including a container adapted to house a roll of pressure sensitive tape, said container having an opening through which a tape tail may extend to the exterior of said container, a bearing surface adjacent one edge of said opening, an adhesion surface on the exterior of said container in close proximity to said bearing surface, said adhesion surface being substantially tangential to the periphery of said roll and having a plurality of isolated indentations, knife edge means at the outer edge of said adhesion surface, open access area means enabling grasping the tape for unreeling, said area being between said bearing surface and said knife edge, and means in said container for holding said roll so that when said tape tail is manually pulled through said opening, said roll will rotate around its axis and also will move by translation until its periphery bears against said bearing surface, whereby when said tape tail is swung toward said knife 1Q edge means for severing, substantially all of said tape from said roll to said knife edge except over said open access area will adhere to said adhesion surface before severing of the tape.

4. In a tape dispenser for pressure sensitive tape, the combination including a container adapted to house a roll of pressure sensitive tape, said container having an opening through which a tape tail may extend to the exterior of said container, a bearing surface adjacent one edge of said opening, an adhesion surface on the exterior of said container, knife edge means for severing said tape tail, and stop means in said container projecting into the pointed and elliptical Zone defined by portions of the core hole of said roll of tape when the latter is in contact with said bearing surface in both of its full and depleted conditions, said stop means having portions adjacent the pointed ends of said zone.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,934,185 Gilliam Nov. 7, 1933 2,527,588 Sorenson Oct. 31, 1950 2,579,149 Krueger et al Dec. 18, 1951 2,987,232 Burdick et al June 6, 1961 3,035,345 Barnard May 22, 1962 

1. IN A TAPE DISPENSER FOR PRESSURE SENSITIVE TAPE, THE COMBINATION INCLUDING A CONTAINER ADAPTED TO HOUSE A ROLL OF PRESSURE SENSITIVE TAPE, SAID CONTAINER HAVING AN OPENING THROUGH WHICH A TAPE TAIL MAY EXTEND TO THE EXTERIOR OF SAID CONTAINER, A BEARING SURFACE ADJACENT ONE EDGE OF SAID OPENING, AN ADHESION SURFACE ON THE EXTERIOR OF SAID CONTAINER IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO SAID BEARING SURFACE, THE PLANE OF SAID ADHESION SURFACE BEING SUBSTANTIALLY TANGENTIAL TO THE PERIPHERY OF SAID ROLL, KNIFE EDGE MEANS AT THE OUTER EDGE OF SAID ADHESION SURFACE, AND MEANS IN SAID CONTAINER FOR HOLDING SAID ROLL SO THAT WHEN SAID TAPE TAIL IS MANUALLY PULLED THROUGH SAID OPENING, SAID ROLL WILL ROTATE AROUND ITS AXIS AND ALSO WILL MOVE BY TRANSLATION UNTIL ITS PERIPHERY BEARS AGAINST SAID BEARING SURFACE, WHEREBY WHEN SAID TAPE TAIL IS SWUNG TOWARD SAID KNIFE EDGE MEANS FOR SEVERING, SUBSTANTIALLY ALL OF SAID TAPE FROM SAID ROLL TO SAID KNIFE EDGE WILL ADHERE TO SAID ADHESION SURFACE BEFORE SEVERING OF THE TAPE. 